Everest students walkout to protest the election

Since the presidential election, students have tried to have their voices heard. As the election came to an end, students at schools all around the Sequoia High School District led walkouts, including one at Everest Public High School on Nov. 9.

Everest Assistant Director Drew Moriates said that as he saw students walking out, he was not going to stop it because he thought “it was important to give students the opportunity to get their thoughts out” about the current situation and about how worried they were for their families and other friends and just the community around them.

Everest Assistant Director Drew Moriates

To Mr. Moriates, it seemed as if there were about 70 to 80 students, out of 400 total students, who participated in the walkout. He thought “the topic was important to seek and understand.” His biggest concern was that it was done in a “respectful and safe way.”

“There were no worries or problems to have to handle which was one of the best things, that they could have all their thoughts let out safely,” Mr. Moriates said, adding that he enjoyed watching the seniors take over the walkout because they were in fact “showing and setting a safe model and showed leadership amongst peers.”

This is a screenshot of a video of the student-led walkout in front of Everest on Nov. 9. PHOTO CREDIT: Alfredo Lanuza

Mr. Moriates said he believed that if students did want to create change in the community around them, that they could because their voices matter. He added that the students who led the walkout did have very important thoughts to share, which many students agreed with.

Mr. Moriates did say that he believes in student empowerment and that he liked the way that the Everest walkout was respectfully handled.

The political situation created by the election of Donald Trump is personally important to me.

During the election, I got many racist comments toward me. “Who do you vote for? Trump because you’re white.”

I might be white, but I do have some Mexican in me, and it hurts me to see that people these days are so cruel.

I think Everest allowing the walkout to happen was very important. I am very happy administrators allowed students to get their feelings, thoughts and beliefs out to the world for others to hear. People had so many strong comments, and I was very happy to hear people stand up for their country, their parents, their religion and their race.

This Snapchat photo shows Everest students protesting in front of the school. PHOTO CREDIT: Serina Sperduto

President Trump’s election should matter to people because everyone has opinions, and they should be able to express those thoughts where they want to, no matter who’s there.

If students want to try and change the community around them, I feel like they can, just as the Everest community all came together to have our voices heard. That is what I strongly believe in. The walkout was organized so no people felt left out or picked on because everyone had the opportunity to be heard.

Featured image (at the top of this post): On Nov. 10, Everest students walked to downtown Redwood City to protest against Donald Trump becoming president. PHOTO CREDIT: Gilbert Medrano